Crossplay
by silentring
Summary: When Riku and Sora get cast in leading roles of Sleeping Beauty they'll do their best to put their differences aside for the sake of the play and...ahem, authenticity. Of course, it's all just an act...right? [RxS AxelxRoxas LxC]
1. Innocent

Idea spawned from making fun of Yuki—endless fun. And the idea of cross-play as discussed between, who else, me and Yuki!

Yuki: You are way too energetic.

Riyu: The game possesses me...Sora's already made so many references to Riku!

Riku: Because he loves me

Sora: ...er, yes. -blush-

Riku: Heh

Warning: slash, duh

RikuxSora, and next chapter and on, LeonxCloud most likely

Yuki: Review. I do not like to listen to him -points at Riyu- whine. Period.

Riyu: ...mean.

* * *

Cross-play

_**Prologue: Innocent**_

It had all started so innocently...oh so very innocently.

Sora buried his face in his arms with a groan, vaguely aware of a sympathetic Roxas patting him awkwardly on the back.

It was that time again, time for the spring festival, time to decide what class 3-A was going to be doing. There had been many suggestions but in the end, their class President—whose name Sora couldn't remember at that moment but once he did made a promise to himself he would pummel mercilessly—decided they should put on a play.

Again many suggestions were made as to what play. Tidus, a rowdy troublemaker with a silly grin suggested plays that didn't exist—which is to say he made up names that the class puzzled over each time until they discerned he had in fact been making them up, at which point Tidus was kindly asked to shut the hell up. Shrugging and not in the least put out, the blond did so, arms carefree behind his head as he lounged. Yes, that was Tidus alright. Selphie suggested Snow White, being the hopeless romantic she was, earning many groans from the boys and some looks of 'it could be worse' amongst the girls. Someone even suggested they not do a play at all, to which there was an ample amount of silence before the other suggestions for plays piled in.

In the end they drew one from a hat.

Sleeping Beauty.

Okay, the boys could deal with that, as could the girls. There was a fair bit of romance and there was a fair bit of sword-fighting and a fair amount of other things, costumes and whatnot so everyone would have a part in making the play successful, exactly what the class President wanted—whatever his name was. Sora was still trying to remember so he could properly maim him.

It just wasn't fair.

But we haven't gotten to that part yet.

There was a bit of a brawl between the girls in the class over who would get the role of Aurora, the princess. The boys, not really caring, yawned and watched mildly enthused until the class president stopped the brawl with a declaration that the parts would be distributed in the only fair way, the same way they'd picked the play itself: draw names and parts, from two hats of course.

So they drew...and drew...and drew, until the girls were even ready to just give it all up to chance, let them smack some names down and call it day.

Finally, it seemed there were only two parts left to draw. Everyone else would get some kind of stage-assignment or the like. The two remaining roles were the prince and his princess...or vice versa as Selphie pointed out, depending on how you looked at it.

"And our prince will be..." the class president paused. "Riku Miyahara?" The question mark evident at the end of the reading incited a few giggles. The silver-haired heartthrob with glass-green eyes arched a brow.

"What? I _am_ a prince," he said. Some of the girls swooned, others whispered excitedly amongst themselves. Truly, Riku was their prince, their devilishly handsome, royally arrogant prince...they didn't much mind the arrogant so long as he kept wearing his uniform with the top three buttons undone, like he always did, and so long as he kept on shooting them those flirtatious and sensual smirks of his, like he always did.

The only one it did bother was...

"In your wildest dreams, maybe," a bored voice remarked in response to Riku's comment. The silver-haired boy turned his attention to the boy sitting behind him, the one, the only, Sora Kobayashi, blue-eyed brunet who came up to about Riku's chin. For years the two had gone to the same schools.

Riku was always the hottie, the heartthrob, the...whatever other term for 'attractive male' happened to cross the lips of his fellow students. Everyone knew who he was. Sora on the other hand was pretty much unknown, except to his best friend, Roxas. But that was fine with the brunet who didn't care for the limelight at all. It wasn't until high school that Riku and Sora had even exchanged looks, much less words.

--------------------------------------XXXXXXXX--------------------------------------

It had been after school, they were at the lockers. Sora's was a few feet from Riku's, as somehow it always ended up being. And it was empty, the hall, except for the two of them. Shuffling through his things, at the sound of a laugh Sora had looked up and over at the silver-haired boy. Sora watched as Riku loaded his arms up with what appeared to be an obscene amount of letters with hearts on them, envelopes and the like...and heaved them straight into the conveniently placed trashcan nearby.

"What are you doing?" Sora had exclaimed, not thinking. Now his first reaction to his own words had been the strong desire to clamp his hands over his mouth and sink into the floor. But since that didn't seem likely to happen, he'd decided he better stand his ground as Riku leaned casually against his locker with that cocky arched brow of his.

"What's it to you?" Riku had returned airily and shut his locker.

"Those were people's feelings!" Sora had continued. He'd already made a fool of himself, might as well go all the way.

"I know. So?" Riku replied, bored. Sora's insides squirmed. He admitted Riku was good-looking...sexy even. But the boy's attitude _had_ to go.

"S-so…aren't you going to at least read them, tell them no...nicely?" Sora managed, feeling slightly lame but also believing entirely in what he said. He didn't much care how popular Riku was. The guy couldn't just throw away people's emotions like that without a care in the world. It was wrong...mean...hurtful. This affirmation in his own decision must have shown as Sora's blue eyes flashed passionately, fists clenched at his sides. He noted, unhappily that he had to look up to Riku...literally. The boy was a whole head taller than him practically.

"No," Riku said flatly and with a shrug began to walk away.

_Wait, that's not how it's supposed to happen_, Sora had thought, slammed his own locker shut and followed quickly.

"That's it then? You're just walking away, running away? Those people spent time on you don't you think you owe it to them to return the favor? Aren't you supposed to be nice?" Sora plodded beside Riku, glowering up at the slightly older boy the whole time.

"Look, it's their fault for wasting time on such stupid things," Riku scowled. The brunet looked cute, but once he opened his mouth the story changed remarkably, or so Riku felt anyway.

"People's feelings are not stupid!" Sora had yelled finally. His voice had echoed through the halls like mad and his fists were now clenched at his sides, again, shaking this time. Riku whirled to face the brunet, eyeing him calculatedly.

"Well, what would _you_ do?"

Sora blinked.

"Wha— I...well," Sora stumbled. Riku smirked. "I guess I would tell them I was sorry I couldn't return their feelings."

The smirk softened. Now Riku was interested.

"Why?"

Sora looked at his feet.

"Because...because I think I'll know when I meet the person I want to be with," Sora said quietly. Here there had been silence and then Riku, feeling suddenly very curious had then said.

"How would you know?"

"I just would," Sora replied at the time. An unreadable look passed through Riku's eyes as he seemed to drink in the boy in front of him. Sora shifted uncomfortably.

Why did this feel so awkward?

A pause and the feeling passed as Riku waved a hand arrogantly.

"Well, too bad it's me getting all the letters and not you, then, isn't it?" Riku smirked as he had switched back into his usual mode and walked away, leaving a thoroughly irritated and mildly bewildered Sora behind.

--------------------------------------XXXXXXXX--------------------------------------

That was a little over a year ago.

And now...just like then...Riku's lips curved upward, amused.

"Jealous? It's understandable. Difficult not to be jealous of the irresistible," Riku's eyes danced as Sora's eyes narrowed more and more...really the boy couldn't get past the 'pout' stage. He was adorable really, innocently, and inexplicably desirable, something Riku had had in the back of his mind for a while.

"Irresistible? If by irresistible you mean irresistible to punch, thrash, or throw out of a window with good faith that all your hot air will carry you safely to the ground, then yes, Riku, yes you are," Sora replied smoothly, eyes no longer narrowed, instead lazy almost.

"Ahem," that's when the class president, still nameless, had asked them to kindly quit their banter long enough to pick the princess. And the two had complied.

But not before Riku Miyahara leaned across Sora Kobayashi's desk and brushed the brunet's ear with his lips, whispering, "Hot? So glad you noticed." In a second the silver-haired one was sitting forward in his seat again, but he'd seen the heated blush creep across the flustered and steaming Sora before he turned.

Inside, Riku did a brief victory dance.

Points?

Riku 1, Sora zip.

"And the princess will be..." here the class president stopped cold.

Everyone stared. And then when no words came forth, nothing, the students began to badger him until he shouted: "Sora Kobayashi!"

Dead silence. Looks exchanged. Some glowers sent buzzing towards the pale-faced brunet. A madly smirking Riku turning to wink suggestively at a stone-still Sora.

The class president quickly slipping out the classroom door to avoid being mauled.

Sora slowly lifted his gaze from his hands, where it had fallen the minute his name was uttered. His eyes locked with glass-green ones. He felt a hot blush knit across his cheeks suddenly, and then both confused and shocked, Sora covered his face with his hands. To his dismay he heard a smug chuckle.

Riku.

"Sora, come out, come out," Riku poked Sora in the chest. Sora spread his fingers so one of his blue eyes peeked through, glaring, of course.

"I do not believe this," Sora mumbled against his hand. Riku stared at him a moment thoughtfully, as if contemplating something, and then simply laughed, a familiar glint in his eyes, the 'I get what I want' glint Sora recognized clearly.

That was it. Sora began to hit his head forcefully and repeatedly on his desk.

Some students stared at each other wondering if they should maybe stop the brunet.

Sleeping Beauty, me, _the **princess**_? Riku..._the_...no...**_my_** prince?

Sora's mind did a fantastic bulldozer gone crazy imitation.

Again Riku chuckled.

And to think, it had all started out so innocently.

* * *

In this festival Yuki and I were working on a similar scenario happened, cept I was stage-manager and he was the princess. The prince was a girl actually, to make it more 'appropriate' or whatever even though the roles were already reversed to 'give everyone a fair chance'. I laughed at him...for ages...still am. And we're hardly past our early twenties. evil laughter I will never let him live it down. A dress! 

Yuki: -grumble, curse, throws things, puts chocolate chip cookies up high out of Riyu's reach-

Riyu: -stares in shock-

Sora: That's horrible.

Riku: He asked for it.

So tell me what you think. Keep on writing? Or no? Tally away, kids.

-slashable Riyu

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	2. I don't like you because

Wow! Thank you so much for the reviews. I was so surprised people actually liked this idea. Yuki was like: _you think they're going to think it's funny?_ I simply told him that I thought it was funny when he had to wear a dress. That shut him up pretty fast. Heh. By the way to those who asked, he did look good, pretty actually. Oooh he'd strangle me for saying that...-nervous laughter goes here-

Anyways uh, thank you a bazillion million quadrillion times! Whoo!

More reviews would of course be fantastically motivating for me!

So then onto it:

* * *

Crossplay 

**_Chapter One: I don't like you because..._**

"I am not wearing a dress!"

"Yes, yes you are! You're the princess Sora! You have to!"

"This is the 21st century! The world of the modern woman! I am not wearing a dress!"

After this continued in a circular way for about twenty minutes much growling, pouncing, and pinning ensued in the form of Selphie struggling for command over the reluctant—and flat-out refusing, Sora. They made an interesting blur, tumbling around on the theater's backstage floor.

Roxas took bets languidly. So far five bets were on Selphie, two for Sora from two students who clearly did not know Selphie...yet.

Part of him felt bad for his best friend, but Selphie was one girl he doubted anyone should, would, or could win against.

She was ruthless.

Also, sidenote, she played dirty.

"Ha-Selphie no!-Hahaha...Selphieeeeeeee! Hahaha!"

The girl was tickling the brunet boy now at her mercy.

Another bet in favor of Selphie came in. Roxas shook his head.

Even he had bet on Selphie, not out of any sort of lack of loyalty to his best friend, more so out of pure logic. Selphie was clearly in her 'determined-mode' which meant Sora could either agree the hard way or the easy way, but in the end the green-eyed imp of a girl would bully him into it.

Or the like.

"Heehahaha...Okay...okay...OKAY SELPHIE! I GIVE! S-S-STOP!" Sora's laughter was so intense he was having trouble breathing. Selphie rolled off of him lightly, hopping to her feet.

"I knew you'd see it my way," she grinned mischievously. Sora groaned, rubbing his head. The girl was dangerous.

"Don't make it too girly...please!" Sora called after Selphie who waved a hand dismissively, which gave Sora very little hope indeed. Roxas walked over and helped him to his feet.

"It can't get worse than that," Roxas commented, trying to make it sound like a good thing. Sora, so resigned, might have even agreed too, except that...

"Not too girly? But Sora, you are girly," Riku walked on backstage. Sora stomped over.

"Says you! The boy with long hair!" Sora shot back.

"Yes, says me! The boy with a fan club of _girls_, attracted because unlike some, my testosterone kicked in at the right time," Riku retorted smoothly and then with a sly wink added, "Care to join them?"

Sora's face turned a fascinating number of shades of red.

"You're blushing, how cute," Riku said, as if it wasn't enough.

"Why are you so impossible?" Sora demanded, hands spread as if asking some greater question.

"Impossible?" Riku repeated, amusement painfully clear. Sora gritted his teeth.

"Impossible," Sora nodded expectantly.

A pause...students stared, Roxas the more careful observer of the current situation due to his closeness with Sora.

"I..." Riku paused as if in deep thought and then with a mockingly apologetic shrug, "...don't know."

Sora sputtered. Riku laughed.

It was so easy to get a rise out of the boy-girl.

_Temptingly_ easy.

"But really Sora, if you're so curious," Riku leaned down until his nose was nearly touching Sora's. "Then why don't you come closer and find out?"

"I don't need to get any closer to the son of Satan than I already am thanks to this stupid play," Sora frowned, stepping back quickly.

"Son of Satan? Sora, tsk, tsk...I thought you knew," Riku shot him an unreadable stare. Sora, predictably stumbled.

"W-what?"

"I'm not that bad," Riku stated. Sora snorted, clearly skeptical. "I'm worse," and Riku was somehow right next to Sora again, regardless of the brunet's admirable attempts to put decent human space between them.

"Hmph, probably should've guessed," Sora muttered, crossing his arms and gluing his eyes to the floor, still keenly aware of Riku's presence.

"Kobayashi," Riku's breath tickled the back of Sora's neck and the older boy absently played with a lock of Sora's hair.

"Stop that!" Sora batted his hand away, but he was blushing too. Riku saw this and barely kept from smirking. "What?"

"Why do you hate me so much, hm? Most people are rather fond of me...too fond, in fact, if you catch my meaning," Riku lowered his voice suggestively. Sora squirmed.

"Ew, no! Too much information...and I don't hate you. I just don't _like_ you," Sora replied immediately. Riku was caught now between two expressions: one, a smile at the childlike response, and two, a scowl at the childlike response. A smile, because, well, wasn't Sora just that _adorable_? Riku's mind flashed its red alert sign and he amended: because well, wasn't that just _amusing_.

_Not_ adorable. _Amusing_. As in entertaining. As in this did not in any way mean Riku was endeared by the brunet. At all.

Not. At. All.

On the other hand, there was the scowl to the impulsive 'ew' from Sora. Not exactly the reaction he'd planned on after all. 'Ew'? Wasn't that reserved for things like Brussels sprouts, wet socks, castration, girls trying to put make-up on you—Riku had come one step too close to this horrible fate once—and wasn't 'ew' more likely the term for things like oh, the cafeteria's noticeably more dubious version of mystery meat...called that not because it was a mystery as to what meat it was, but rather a mystery as to whether it was meat or some strangely mutated form of cardboard and compost.

Riku certainly did not find himself falling under the same category as Brussels sprouts _or_ castration in any case.

Because...well...in Sora's terms: _ew_.

Really now.

"Well then, why don't you like me? Last I checked, 'not liking' _me_, is on the list of 'things people just don't do...at all'...a very small list, by the way," Riku asked, voice calm and collected...deceptively so. Sora, noting this, eyed him warily as he answered.

"Well I do, do what people just don't do then," Sora felt his eyes roll around a bit at his own sentence. What the Hell did he just say?

"...you're not going to tell me that's your answer," Riku said at last, his blatantly entertained expression getting more and more infuriating with each passing second.

"No," Sora advanced on the silver-haired boy, poking him in the chest, taking the offensive for once. Surprised, Riku found himself backing up as the boy gave him his extensive list as to why he did 'do what people just don't do'...or however he put it: "I don't like you Riku Miyahara, because you are selfish, you are stuck up, you are heartless, you think that every thing, person, place, or event revolves around you, and most of the time you are just really good at pissing me off!" Sora ended this with a particularly forceful jab at the taller boy before stalking off into the hallway.

Riku blinked, eyes narrowing. People were staring now.

Lots of people.

As in most of class 3-A had just seen him get, for the most part, humiliated by a certain blue-eyed brunet.

As far as Riku was concerned, sure he'd pushed the kid's buttons, but that kind of er...attack, was uncalled for. Completely. Squaring his shoulders, Riku went in the direction Sora had exited.

_Have it your way, Sora_, he thought as he entered the hall in time to see Roxas speeding around the corner after the boy. Riku decided to run into him 'accidentally' later after he'd gotten a better idea on how he wanted to get back at the younger boy for embarrassing him so.

Embarrassing Riku Miyahara was, as it happened, also on the list of 'things people just don't do...at all'.

Too bad Sora didn't know that.

* * *

Backstage where the two rivals had just left, preparations continued as they had been prior to the pair's rather riveting banter. People were getting assigned various stage jobs, etc, etc, etc by various people. Among them was the stage manager who was doing a fine job of getting things squared away. 

That is until she approached a certain someone in the class, a certain someone who actually hadn't meant to be there, but had zoned out and was now doing what he did best when people spoke to him, much less asked him something:

He was ignoring her.

"What about scenery, can you do scenery?"

The stage manager shifted nervously, switching the clipboard from one arm to the other for no apparent reason except sheer nervousness. She'd been trying to get through to this particular student for a record-breaking fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds...amazing.

And, she was beginning to get the feeling, dangerous.

The air seemed to get heavy...like the air in one of those huge meat lockers.

Very dangerous...the stage manager gulped loudly.

Maybe if she waited a little bit...

But no.

When the student didn't respond—not surprising after about fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds of the same non-responsiveness—she tried another option.

"...um, how about uh...lights, you're good with technology right?"

Silence.

Okay, at this point, she had to admit it, clicking her pencil against her clipboard agitatedly.

She was running out of options.

Did someone else out there want her job?

Anyone?

She sighed. Try again.

"...maybe ushering?"

_That_ got a response.

Glare.

Dark, unreadable beyond the possible 'What the fuck?' intonation, and very, very uncooperative...a glare.

Taking that as a sign that there truly was an exception to every rule, the stage manager let go a timid 'eep' before shuffling off to harass other more likely subjects about the class's production.

"You always give people such a hard time."

The young man, still glaring, peered at the speaker through shaggy chocolate bangs that hung unevenly, somehow making him seem more roguishly handsome than unrefined. Speaker, the same height, blond hair and eerie blue eyes shook his head and made an empty gesture with his right hand.

"I know, I know..." the blond held up both hands now as if in making a peace offer.

"...whatever." the scowling brunet said. "...whatever." the blond timed it just right.

Another glare.

No, better: a glower. But the blond wasn't in the least bit intimidated as he strode over to stand next to the unhappy man with grey-blue eyes and took no shame as he mimicked the grumpy one's posture: one leg slightly propped with the foot against the wall, arms crossed, face downcast.

An irritated sigh escaped from the grumpy—now even grumpier—one.

"...what?" the invariably forced prompt from the grumpy one.

"-ever?" the soft teas from the blond—and considerably cheerier—one...with a chuckle.

"Ugh." the articulate response from the grumpy one.

And so it went on for a short while.

It was lunch hour and the hall in which the pair of males now stood was quite empty aside from them, now that the frightened stage manager had left, that is.

"Leon, you shouldn't scare them like that."

"What is with you? You're as much of a jerk as I am...usually." The brunet added this last part with a slight sulking tone as if he didn't understand and was very pissed about it...which he was. He ran a gloved hand through his hair unhappily, not that it did anything. It was more just the comfort of the gesture since his hair did what it pleased and he was too lazy or apathetic—or both—to do anything to change that fact.

"Blame it on Aerith," the blond replied simply and fell in to his more comfortable position of standing up off the wall and eyeing his friend thoughtfully. "You know, she's making me soft."

"I noticed," Leon muttered darkly and for a moment his friend was confused by the shadowed look in those grey-blue irises. But as quick as it was there, it was gone and Cloud had to decide to pretend it hadn't been there at all. Knowing Leon he'd just tell him to go talk to a wall if he tried to ask him if something was the matter...as usual. Absently a slight frown made its way onto the blonde's face. The brooding young man was always like that, even since they were little, and this, Cloud accepted...usually. But lately it'd been a little more difficult to just let it slide. Lately he'd been wanting a little more out of his best friend...like maybe ten cohesive sentences in less than a day maybe.

Yes, that would be nice.

"Let's go get some lunch," Cloud said after what he deemed was an inordinate amount of awkward silence. In response, Leon started toward the lunchroom...without a word.

Of course.

The blond barely kept himself from an amused smile; Leon would _hate_ to know he was that predictable.

Keeping such thoughts to himself, Cloud followed when Leon, noting his absence, cast a glance over his shoulder and paused until Cloud stood right next to him.

They entered the lunchroom, as always, together. It was just the way things were.

* * *

Out in the courtyard... 

"I just don't even get why people like him exist," Sora huffed.

"Who?" Roxas murmured as he flipped through the pages of the school paper. At his best friend's apparent disinterest, Sora's huffing increased until he was in Sora-sulk-mode as he pushed the paper down forcefully bringing him nose to nose with the calm boy.

"You know who!" Sora exclaimed unhappily. Roxas sighed. It'd been the same tune since he chased his best friend as he ran out of the theater, the same grumpy, inconsolable tune of: Riku Miyahara, you make my life a living Hell without even trying...courtesy of Sora of course.

Unfortunately for Roxas, his life suffered a considerably self-sacrificing fate as the best friend.

Rubbing his temple thoughtfully Roxas tapped Sora on the shoulder with his free hand.

"Look, it might not be so bad," he began.

Two large blue eyes narrowed to two thin blue slits. Roxas gulped.

Okay, probably not the best way to begin his argument.

"…_not_. _so_. _bad_…?"

Roxas backed up a step...and then another, and another, and...so on.

A few curious stares went flitting in their direction as Sora advanced upon his best friend since kindergarten...with a decidedly un-Sora like expression.

No smile...no pout...not even a hint of either...completely un-Sora like.

And that was just plain _freaky_...weird...and freaky.

"Well, what I mean is, uh..." Roxas laughed nervously and coughed to cover up said laughter as he began to back towards the entry to the lunchroom. The way the school was set up, the lunchroom had several entrances from the hall and on the opposite side there was a doorway to the outside courtyard where, on nice days such as this one, students had free-roaming privilege. So busy trying to calm the blue-eyed brunet down with placating promises of cookies, and other confectionaries, Roxas failed to notice a body coming out of the door he was backing up against.

Several things happened now.

One: Roxas, before he could even properly back into the unsuspecting body coming out the door, tripped backward on one of the steps.

Two: In the process of tripping, Roxas wobbled backwards and hit the student, sending them both off balance.

Three: Trying to regain his balance only changed the direction of Roxas' fall and the stranger's.

Four: The direction shifted toward a stone-still Sora who looked like he had the notion of scrambling away.

Five: Roxas and the student fell on top of poor Sora, because in the time it'd taken for him to get the notion to scramble, it'd been a few seconds too late to put it into action.

"Ow, my head…"

"Watch it!"

"You get your foot off my face!"

"Gah, would you guys get off of me?"

"Stop whining, you think I like this?"

"You think I like this?"

"Guyyyyyyyyys!"

Shortly thereafter, the three boys had disengaged themselves from each other and put a much needed bubble of three feet between each of them. Dusting off bits of dirt and straightening his uniform tie, Sora blinked at the other student for a second before recognition dawned.

"Kobayashi, so nice to run into you," a familiarly infuriating tone of smugness greeted as Riku ran a hand through his silver locks absently.

How convenient. The silver-haired Adonis had been silently plotting...er…hoping, to run into the fiery brunet. After their little verbal skirmish—Riku suffering a shocking and embarrassing defeat by the onslaught of the brunet— Sora had bolted like a frightened colt—though in case, more likely an angry one—too fast even for Riku to catch, probably.

Well...maybe not.

No one was faster, stronger...and most importantly, no one was sexier than Riku.

Nope.

But still, Sora had run pretty damn fast and Riku, certainly wasn't about to make even more a fool of himself of himself by following the kid.

He had a reputation to uphold.

Ahem.

Still, he had been plotting to...er, hoping, to run into his opposite lead, and taking in the distinctly perturbed pout from Sora, it seemed fortune was smiling upon him after all.

Perfect.

"Can't say the same," the brunet mumbled, currently suffering after-effects of his exchange with the older boy from earlier. _Note to self, _Sora mused, _talk less, run more...when Riku's involved anyway. _

Okay, there was still that little problem of Sora despising Riku. Yes, there was that minor, minor detail.

But Riku had never really paid too much attention to the minor or the detail. And what with his plan—a plan he was rather proud of for its sheer simplicity and achievable nature—well, he wasn't about to let those kinds of things stop him anyway.

"I'm hurt," the silver-haired young man made a melodramatic wave. Sora ignored him, striking up a conversation about nothing in particular with Roxas who looked every bit as confused as Riku was irritated.

Yes, Sora was using Roxas to ignore Riku.

Pointedly.

Now Riku arched a brow. That kind of behavior simply wouldn't do.

Not at all.

What to do...what to do...ah.

Riku's eyes flashed, which Sora failed to notice since the boy was still in the very preoccupying state of occupying himself with blatantly snubbing Riku.

"We should get in character, don't you think?" Riku whispered as suddenly he was right next to Sora, his lips casually brushing the shorter boy's ear. Riku couldn't repress a smirk as he felt a tremble from the brunet. "Our performance should be..._believable_, don't you think?" A hand on his shoulder, a trickle of breath on his nape, the scent that could only be described as pure 'Riku' and Sora's head was spinning...heat spreading through his body...The lips brushed his ear again. "_Sora_."

It was only his name, sure his _first_ name, which Riku had used maybe once before but still, just a name...yet at this distance...or rather, nearness, for some reason that single utterance hit a strange chord in him.

Sora leapt back.

"...n-no," Sora mumbled, feeling his face flush madly. Well aware of how evident his blushes could be, Sora did the only logical thing.

He darted behind Roxas.

Roxas, surprised by the sudden retreat, only stared blankly at the glower Riku sent his way this very moment. Thinking fast, Roxas did his best to assess the situation. Riku, if Roxas had proper eyesight, which he did—just had a check-up a week ago—was openly flirting or at least flustering his best friend. Okay, got it. Sora, successfully flustered by the older boy, seemed to be reacting to the boy's advances but whether or not this was a good thing, that's where Roxas stopped relying on observation and had to go with the honest admission that he didn't know.

So...then...plan of action?

Operation fend off Riku/ OFOR...whichever.

For now, anyways.

"What?" Roxas shrugged nonchalantly. This, perhaps, only served to further push Riku's buttons...and not in the good way. But Riku was infamous for keeping his cool.

He would not disappoint.

"You're in between me, and what I want," Riku explained offhandedly. Roxas' turn to arch a brow, the blonde's lips curved upward in a half-smirk...much more subtle than Riku's god-pose, but just as effective.

Especially in this case.

Riku's glower deepened several degrees.

"I could be completely wrong but I don't think Sora wants to see you right now," Roxas said calmly, glancing over his shoulder and getting an overenthusiastic nod from his friend. "See?" Roxas turned back to face Riku.

"He doesn't know what he wants," Riku replied flatly. This earned him a fierce pout from the brunet in question.

"I do so!"

Riku almost chuckled at the outburst, but that would've ruined his intimidation technique completely, so he refrained.

Barely.

"What's your name?" Riku poked Roxas in the chest. The blond scowled.

"Roxas."

"Interesting," Riku murmured, taking in the sudden realization that with Sora standing almost right next to Roxas, the two held striking resemblances. Not identical, and on closer inspection, some might say they didn't much resemble each other at all, but on a first glance...they could have been brothers...twins. "Listen, Kobayashi," Riku said at last, over Roxas' shoulder. "We do have to rehearse and we will be stuck with each other until this stupid festival is over, so stop sulking."

Slowly, Sora stepped out from behind Roxas who put out a hand to his friend to wordlessly say 'You don't have to do what he says' and Sora just smiled reassuringly at him. The blond dropped his hand. Sora, in the end, was pretty much a nice guy type of boy, the kind that would, in all likelihood, hand himself over to the devil if it seemed like it would do anyone a speck of good.

Riku who was well aware of this and fully intended to use it to his advantage, nodded in approval. Better.

"Fine, until the play is over then," Sora rolled his eyes as if saying 'heaven...if there is one...help me out...damn it!' and then, not even daring to look, offered his hand.

This gesture, however, was something the silver haired one completely did not expect.

As such, Riku, for once, stared dumbly, looking remarkably uncool.

Sora blinked as he looked over.

Wait, _what_?

As far as he knew Riku Miyahara didn't even know 'uncool' existed.

Not that it did.

The word, anyway.

But the meaning, the manifestation of it…

Sora was rushed out of his thoughts as Riku accepted his hand and shook it thrice.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Riku arched a brow, as Sora pushed past him.

"Painless," Sora muttered, sarcasm coiling its way through every letter. Riku had the nerve or carelessness to simply laugh, causing Sora to hunch his shoulders and hurry off. Roxas stood to one side, head tilted thoughtfully.

Weird.

And weirder.

"So you're his best friend?" Riku asked him suddenly and Roxas jumped.

"Er, yeah," he said, feeling immediately lame...times ten.

"You look alike," Riku commented, running a hand through his hair and for a moment Roxas could see what others saw in him, the appeal in the grace of his neck, the definite but sensual definition of all the right muscles, the sort of constant come-hither look in those deep aquamarine eyes…and so on. But the effect was completely spoiled as the stage manager ran into him, causing him to turn and glare at the female who uttered a quick apology before darting off in some inscrutable direction. Roxas averted his gaze.

According to Sora, Riku was somewhat of a jerk. From what he'd heard from the inescapable school gossip—and Roxas _did_ try with ardor to escape it, to no avail— Roxas had been able to discern that at the very least, the boy was somewhat of a practitioner in the art of seduction.

That is, seduction combined with slithering out of the resulting relationship.

While this did nothing to put the boy in Roxas' high esteem, he also didn't see how it much mattered what this Riku guy did or didn't do in or out of social graces...not until now anyway.

Based on the signs from earlier, Sora looked to be the next marking on Riku's map of so-far uncharted territory. This, however made no sense because it appeared after today's little spectacle that the two boys had a sizable and even dislike of each other.

Which meant something was up.

But what?

A few more silent minutes of thought and Roxas, though he could not come up with any conceivable idea as to what or why Riku would be wasting his time making Sora blush like a fire hydrant, he did know that if for some reason Sora did fall for the silver one's charms...that could end badly.

Horribly actually.

Frowning, the blond sighed. The likelihood that Sora would fall was slim to none but that 'slim' margin worried him enough to steer him to some form of action, in his best friend's defense. And possibly something more.

He didn't quite understand the pinch at his heart when he thought of Riku…_seducing_ Sora.

Shrugging it off as a friend's concern, he approached the source of trouble.

Riku who had spaced out after watching Sora's retreating figure, turned at a tap on his shoulder.

Oh that's right...the blond one...he was still there.

"Yes?" Riku intoned blandly.

"Don't do anything to hurt him," Roxas said quietly, and it was that soft tone as well as the intense look in the boy's eyes that kept Riku from laughing at him, that actually had Riku considering his words...seriously.

"Kobayashi?"

Roxas nodded firmly.

And then Riku's well-practiced mask of pride and arrogance filtered back in and a part of him—the less intelligent part it should be duly noted—scoffed at the very idea.

"Don't be stupid. I'm not interested. I just like making him squirm." There, that sounded true enough.

Wait.

It _was_ true.

Riku nodded to himself internally.

Absolutely. Completely. Nothing but.

The truth.

He just liked to make Sora Kobayashi squirm, was amused to see the boy blush like a stop light, and get all fidgety.

That was all.

Nothing more.

"_Right_," Roxas said, clearly skeptical. Now, of course, the blond said this under his breath—a.k.a. to himself, but Riku heard it anyway, and that same less intelligent part of him flared in defensiveness.

A wicked idea crept forth from that part of him almost immediately.

Before he knew it, Roxas found his chin held gently but firmly with Riku's fingers as the older boy looked at him, unblinking...unwavering. The blond swallowed hard.

What the...?

"I just like making _him_ squirm. _You_, on the other hand," Riku murmured, mirroring his movements from earlier, but purposefully more suggestive as he blew on Roxas' nape. The boy jumped back as if burned, eyes glaring.

"I don't know _what_ you're trying to pull here, but stop," Roxas bit out, but his icy tone didn't bother Riku in the least. He had what he wanted. The look of pure shock on the blonde's face was enough to tell Riku he'd completely erased any remote notion of him _liking_ Sora in _that_ way from Roxas' mind, at least for now.

Which was exactly how it should be.

Since Riku most certainly did not _like_ Sora in _that_ way. Burying any further doubt over that notion heartily beneath all his well practiced layers of self-confidence, Riku sauntered away with a whistle, further plotting payback for the feisty brunet.

* * *

Back in the lunchroom a hand attempted to stealthily nab a French fry. 

A gloved hand slapped it away.

"Aw Leon..." Cloud sulked.

"No."

* * *

Whew, okay, let me know what you think! Stuff, stuff, and stuff! 

Next: the first rehearsal. What on earth could Cloud and Leon have been cast as? Heh, and you thought he was just refusing stage work because he was a stiff...nope...oh they have roles, oh yes they do...HEEHEE Anyways, uh, Yeah, next we find out their roles, we have the first rehearsal, we have a couple interesting Sora and Riku moments, and we see a bit more deeply into the friendship between Roxas and Sora.

Review! Make me smile! So Yuki doesn't have to listen to me whine like a moron.

Yuki: ...please.

Aw I'm not that bad.

Yuki: yes, he is. On that note, please review.

-slashable Riyu, running off to go have fun with his boyfriend because it's the weekend and the weekend should most certainly not be wasted


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